Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Wed 5.10.11, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
Not much traffic on the road, the humanitarian crossing is quiet, entrances to the city are blocked as usual. A sign: “This is Israel, ya Salah!”
We’re stopped at the entrance to Kiryat Arba, but quickly released.
Hebron
A large sukkah being erected at the Baruch Goldstein compound.
Hebron is quiet, the streets almost empty.
Two (uncooperative) paratroopers at Tel Rumeida stop a youth, inspect and immediately release him. Raya says it’s because we’re here, as well as a TIPH car that happened to pass.
A sign: “Hebron=Connection.”
At the Cave of the Patriarchs, a large group of youths, boys with yarmulkes, apparently returning from visiting the site, then another large group of girls, in skirts, apparently school groups from Kiryat Arba. A singer with a megaphone on the grass outside the Cave of the Patriarchs – hassidic melodies.
A Border Police soldier reads my nametag: “Human rights? Ours or theirs? Are you a leftist?” and breaks off any contact.
The owner of the souvenir shop next to ‘Abed’s store thanks me for paying attention to him also, for talking with him and peeping into his shop (“I’m glad Machsom Watch comes into my place also”). He’d very much want us to buy something from him as well.
Tarqumiyya
The grocery at the entrance to Tarqumiyya puts our labaneh and pitas in plastic bags with a logo from “Rami Levy” and from “Shuarma Revivo” in Be’er Sheva, hoping it will help us to bring them through the Tarqumiyya crossing – maybe they’ll rummage through them less. But what actually delays us is Raya’s ID card, because her hair grew since her photo was taken and the guy in the booth, along with some other guards, aren’t able to match her with her photograph (she looks younger…). In any case, with the help of an additional young woman, they’re convinced that the Raya in the photo is the same person standing before them.
Hebron
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According to Wye Plantation Accords (1997), Hebron is divided in two: H1 is under Palestinian Authority control, H2 is under Israeli control. In Hebron there are 170,000 Palestinian citizens, 60,000 of them in H2. Between the two areas are permanent checkpoints, manned at all hours, preventing Palestinian movement between them and controlling passage of permit holders such as teachers and schoolchildren. Some 800 Jews live in Avraham Avinu Quarter and Tel Rumeida, on Givat HaAvot and in the wholesale market.
Checkpoints observed in H2:
- Bet Hameriva CP- manned with a pillbox
- Kapisha quarter CP (the northern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- The 160 turn CP (the southern side of Zion axis) - manned with a pillbox
- Avraham Avinu quarter - watch station
- The pharmacy CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tarpat (1929) CP - checking inside a caravan with a magnometer
- Tel Rumeida CP - guarding station
- Beit Hadassah CP - guarding station
Three checkpoints around the Tomb of the Patriarchs
Raya YeorDec-18-2025Hebron - Yusri Jaber and part of his family
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South Hebron Hills
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South Hebron Hills
South Hebron Hills is a large area in the West Bank's southern part.
Yatta is a major city in this area: right in the border zone between the fertile region of Hebron and its surroundings and the desert of the Hebron Hills. Yatta has about 64,000 inhabitants.
The surrounding villages are called Masafer Yatta (Yatta's daughter villages). Their inhabitants subsist on livestock and agriculture. Agriculture is possible only in small plots, especially near streams. Most of the area consists of rocky terraces.Since the beginning of the 1980s, many settlements have been established on the agricultural land cultivated by the Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills region: Carmel, Maon, Susia, Masadot Yehuda, Othniel, and more. Since the settlements were established and Palestinians cultivation areas have been reduced; the residents of the South Hebron Hills have been suffering from harassment by the settlers. Attempts to evict and demolish houses have continued, along with withholding water and electricity. The military and police usually refrain from intervening in violent incidents between settlers and Palestinians do not enforce the law when it comes to the investigation of extensive violent Jewish settlers. The harassment in the South Hebron Hills includes attacking and attempting to burn residential tents, harassing dogs, harming herds, and preventing access to pastures.
There are several checkpoints in the South Hebron Hills, on Routes 317 and 60. In most of them, no military presence is apparent, but rather an array of pillboxes monitor the villages. Roadblocks are frequently set up according to the settlers and the army's needs. These are located at the Zif Junction, the Dura-al Fawwar crossing, and the Sheep Junction at the southern entrance to Hebron.
Updated April 2022
Muhammad D.Apr-16-2026The entrance to the cave that served as a refuge during the war for the Na'iman family
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